What makes a place a home?
"Living quarters" (a house, apartment, dorm room) are not necessarily "home" It takes more than residence to make a place a home. What changes a place where we live into a home? Preferably home is a place where we feel safe. It provides physical safety from the elements, but more importantly, an emotional haven, a place to feel comfortable and at peace. Two critical factors are the other people there and the "comforts of home". What other things do you consider critical to the feeling of home? We'd like your opinions. Click on the "edit" tab, and you can add your thoughts here. ... thoughts about what makes a place feel like home ... :Is having your family around enough to make it home for you? :Is the ability to make meals and store food critical for you? :Is home the place you go when you need reassurance (comfort, security, encouragement)? please feel free to add what you think is important to make a home here (click on the edit button above) For some people, home is a place where they can sleep safely. For others, it is critical that they be able to entertain guests -- it isn't home until they host a house warming party. For some people a home is the place where they store keepsakes -- a place that holds memories. The routine, daily activities like cooking, cleaning, participating in hobbies, such as reading, scrap booking, woodworking, knitting, make a place comfortable and "homey". A home. It is where, as they say "the heart is." It is where you crossed the threshold, in a white dress, in your husbands arms. Your home holds the living room where your baby walked his first steps and broke his first toys. The same toys that were opened on your family's first Christmas. The same year, where not too long before, you burned the Thanksgiving dinner, in the same kitchen you became a top chef. Your home is defined by where you experience your most beautiful moments... as well as your ugliest. You can come home after a bad day and reveal the true beast within. You can spit out bitter, hurtful comments one day, while the next you laugh till your abs and cheeks begin to hurt. You can cuddle, you can yell, you can work on something inspirational, you can break something, or just plain break down. Home is where your heart is. Home is where you are you, magnified. Or normalized. Where the pressures of societal politeness are tossed away. Raw, is the word that comes to mind. Home has no filter. Home has every ounce of warmth the word implies. "Home." For a discussion of the topic, see the Forum:What makes a place seem more like home? or to discuss what belongs on this page, see the talk:What makes a place a home? tab. Related * quotes * residents * smells of home * Forum:Can a virtual place be "home"? * hope chest External links * http://wacosphere.com/2010/02/43-ways-to-make-your-house-a-home/ * http://itsthelittlethingsthatmakeahouseahome.blogspot.com/ * The Everyday Minimalist on What makes a place a home? * What makes a place feel like home? - opinion from "Once a Reston resident" * "What Makes a House Feel Like Home" on Apartment Therapy * How to Make a Space Feel Like Home No Matter Where You Are: There’s No Place like HOME. on Karen Atkins's blog Category:Content Category:Your thoughts